Why do these things happen?
by RebekahGrace
Summary: A few nights after his engagement to Audrey, Percy goes over to shell cottage and is drawn back to a past he would probably rather forget. Add in a brief bit of Charlie plus firewhiskey and you have an interesting combination. Written for QLFC Season 6, Round 13, Chaser 3 (Mentions of Abortion)


**A/N -** Oh My goodness everyone! I cannot believe the regular season of QLFC is ending. It has been an amazing kick in the a** to get my writing goals on track. Over the past 5 months I have post 12 fics and it has been crazy. I am so lucky, my team was amazing and super helpful because believe me a lot of editing by them goes into making these fic's publishable. Now that we have got the mushy stuff out of the way I would like to add a warning here - **there are mentions of** _ **abortion.**_ It is mentioned towards the end of the fic twice. So if this is possibly a trigger for you I wouldn't read any further. Anyway thank you all.

 **Word Count without A/N -** 1929

 **Prompt -** Banshee - write about someone who constantly complains or nags.

 **Optional Prompts -**

2 (emotion) anger

11 (phrase) drop of a hat

14 (role) spy

* * *

"So, what is so urgent?" Bill asked, as he set the firewhiskey on the table after pouring himself a glass. Generally, Percy didn't come over without a good reason.

Percy picked up the bottle and poured some firewhiskey into his glass, sipping on it before replying. "I'm telling everyone Audrey and I are engaged tomorrow."

"Finally got the courage?" Bill asked, having known this was coming for awhile – after all he had helped do the ring shopping.

"Yep, it was our one-year anniversary on Friday and I figured that it would be good to tell everyone," Percy set his glass back on the table and stared intently at it.

"Okay, what is it?" Bill asked. Whilst he appreciated finding out before the rest of the family, he knew Percy must have another reason for coming to him.

"I told her about Penny and I being engaged," Percy replied, still not making eye contact.

"Why?" Bill asked, trying not to show his surprise at Percy and Penny being engaged, he hadn't known.

"After my speech Audrey asked if I had done it before. I figured it would be a good idea to tell her about Penelope. Honesty, you know?" Percy replied, finally making eye contact with Bill, thinking back to many pivotal moments that led the end of his and Penelope Clearwater's engagement.

* * *

" _Percy?" Penny called as she unlocked the flat._

" _I'm just in the kitchen," Percy called, easily heard in the small flat._

" _Hey, I thought you would be working?" Penny replied as she set down the takeout she had picked upon the counter. She had been planning on curling up and watching a movie whilst waiting for Percy to get home, but it appeared that her plans had been thwarted._

" _I figured I would spend the evening with my gorgeous fiancé," Percy replied, turning away from the stove where he was making curry for dinner and placing a light kiss on Penny's lips._

" _I'll just put this away then," Penny replied, almost a little sadly. She had been looking forward to the junky Chinese food she had picked up. "Perce?"_

" _Mhm?" Percy replied distracted by the pan on the stove – and to be honest probably other things, work had been kind of stressful lately._

" _When are we telling your family?" Penny asked._

" _Soon," Percy replied avoiding the topic. "When is the dinner with your parents?"_

" _Wednesday, seven Ooclock at the Cauldron. Please don't be late," Penny replied._

* * *

" _Penny, please!" Percy shouted to his fiancé, as she slammed their bedroom door in his face. He had just gotten home from a long shift and he wasn't sure if he could handle an argument. As soon as Penny came out of the room she had just entered, he almost regretted asking her to come out. Her face was red and blotchy, and the tears running down her cheeks were a sure sign of trouble._

" _Fine, you know what? You were so late to the dinner you promised to be at, that I was already paying the bill, and my parents had left. You don't seem to even care about introducing me to your family and don't get me started on the late nights you've been working!"_

" _I said I was sorry about the dinner Penny! The Minister asked me to work late; the Ministry is in uproar," Percy retorted, his face going red._

" _I work there as well, Percy, but I still make sure that I am home before nine so I can at least spend time with you!" Penny's fist was clenched around her wand._

" _We obviously need some time to calm down. So I'm going to go crash at Oliver's. I will see you tomorrow night." Percy couldn't deal with this tonight, he had had a run in with his father at the Ministry and after that, was interrogated about the run in and if he was still loyal to the Ministry. Honestly he had just wanted to come home and sleep. He summoned the constantly packed overnight bag and left the flat to apparate to his best friends._

* * *

" _Why are you never home?" Penny complained one evening, when Percy walked in the door after ten at night._

 _Percy pinched his nose before replying. "I told you, work has been ramping up quite a bit lately."_

" _I work at the Ministry as well, I still work a normal shift," Penny replied,not wanting to show how hurt she was. This argument had come up numerous times since they had moved in together, it had almost become a habit to ask him why whenever he got home late._

" _Seriously Percy, when will I meet your family?" Penny asked in a childlike tone._

 _With practiced patience Percy ignored her. He didn't want to talk about it, especially not tonight. He had just received word of Ron being in the hospital wing and was quite worried about his little brother. ._

" _Percy, come on." Penny rose from her seat on the couch and put herself in Percy's line of sight._

" _Probably not ever," Percy finally replied in a terse tone. She would find out eventually, right?_

" _Why?" Penny asked. She remembered that Percy had never been particularly close to any of his siblings at Hogwarts, but she was sure he was close to his parents. He'd always seemed to love his family, even as he bemoaned their differences._

" _Dad and I had a row." Percy was now washing the dinner dishes by hand, he only did that when he was nervous about something._

" _But surely that wouldn't…" Penny trailed off, now all she could think about was the lack of support Percy had._

" _Let it be, Penny," Percy said in a firm tone. "I don't want to talk about it."_

 _He retreated to his study after setting the final dish into the drying rack, and Penny let him go without a fight._

* * *

" _I need to tell you something," Penny said, about two weeks after Percy had told her about his estrangement from his family._

" _What?" He asked, coming across shorter than intended, although not wanting to deal with another one of Penny's lectures, which had become increasingly frequent. His focus went back to the documents he had been reviewing._

" _I was pregnant," Penny whispered. Percy's gaze snapped up to look Penny and for the shortest of moments, his smile lit up his face until he realized the enormity of her statement. The disturbing use of 'was'._

" _What do you mean? Did you have a miscarriage?" Percy asked, worried about his fiancé._

" _No, I got an abortion," Penny replied quietly. She took a deep breath, knowing she had just put an end to their relationship. Percy would never be able to support her decision, not that he didn't love her, it was that she hadn't even told him before the procedure._

" _What?" Percy asked in a broken voice. His brain wasn't processing what she had just said. An abortion? She hadn't even told him she was pregnant._

" _I am so sorry, Percy," Penny replied, leaning across the table to comfort Percy but he pulled away._

" _I need to clear my head." He stood silently and gathered up the documents he had been working on. Neither said anything, but they both knew that this was the end of the road for their relationship. Wordlessly, Penny removed her engagement ring and placed it on the table. Percy made no move to take the small object, but he also made no move to stop her from taking it off her finger. She retreated to the bedroom whilst he walked out of the front door._

 _He needed comfort, and he needed alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. Charlie was in town, and even though Percy knew he probably didn't deserve it after the way he'd behaved, he thought Charlie was probably the least likely to turn him away._

* * *

"What happened?" Bill asked curiously after a few minutes of leaving Percy to his thoughts. He figured his brother had been thinking about Penelope.

"A lot led to us splitting up," Percy replied ambiguously, knowing he was ready to talk about the abortion but unsure how to approach it.

"Such as?" Bill replied, prompting his younger brother.

"She expected me to be available at the drop of a hat," Percy responded. Although that was not entirely true, he needed it to be. There had to be something beyond the abortion that led to the end of Penny and his relationship. He needed to believe that the abortion was just the culmination of it all. Bill sat in silence, he knew Percy would continue without prompting now.

"It's not exactly that, but she never stopped nagging me about working late," Percy continued. "I mean I wasn't actually working – I was passing names to McGonagall but if I told her that, she would have been in danger. She could have asked me to stop and I couldn't do that. You were all contributing to the war in such major ways, I knew McGonagall was in the Order and I needed to do something."

"So, you were spying?" Bill asked, trying to sort everything out in his head. He and Percy had had many conversations surrounding the war, but Percy had never mentioned passing names to McGonagall before. Fleur had started organizing Muggleborns getting extracted to the continent, which Percy then got involved in under Audrey's influence.

"In a way I guess," Percy replied, shrugging.

"What else Perce?" Bill steering the conversation back to Penny, he knew there was something more on Percy's mind.

"Penny was pregnant," Percy replied, deciding he may as well put it out there.

Bill took a moment to collect himself before replying, not even considering Penny would had aborted the child. "Do you have a kid?"

"Nope," Percy replied popping the 'p' "She got an abortion."

"Well, it is her body Percy," Bill replied carefully, knowing full well that this could upset Percy.

"She didn't even tell me about it before she went through with it," Percy pointed out. If he had had more time to mentally prepare maybe, he and Penny would still be engaged – or even married – the no warning part was had really thrown him off.

"I'm going to – Hey Perce!" Charlie stumbled out of the kitchen floo, Charlie had been staying at the Burrow all weekend, so he had understandably come to escape the madness.

"Hey Charlie," Percy replied, refilling his tumbler with firewhiskey.

"So, what are we drinking to?" Charlie asked, sitting down and summoning a mug from the cupboard.

"He finally asked her," Bill replied for Percy.

"That generally doesn't warrant pulling out the heavy stuff," Charlie observed.

"No, but discussing a past engagement does," Percy interjected.

"Does she know?" Charlie asked, talking about Audrey.

"I told her the other night." Percy stood to see if Fleur had made any biscuits recently.

"You knew?" Bill asked, looking at Charlie, dumbfounded.

"I was in town, he wanted to get plastered and he knew I was the brother for that. Although trying to explain the situation to Oliver Wood was interesting." Charlie shrugged.

"Merlin, I forgot I crashed at his flat that night." Percy unconsciously reached up to rub his forehead.

"I didn't think you remembered that night to be honest," Charlie poured some firewhiskey into his mug and started sipping.

"Believe me I wish I didn't," Percy replied, finding a fresh baked tin of biscuits and bringing them to the table.

"Here is to happier relationships!" Bill said, toasting his brothers. It was a good night.


End file.
